Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“The decisions regarding the EUR 90 billion loan (to Ukraine) were made collectively and relate to the military context. And the context of the war has not changed. We must honor our commitments and the decisions we have made, and this is precisely what we will be working on in the coming days and weeks,” said President of France Emmanuel Macron.

President of Romania Nicușor Dan has pledged to support “any legal option” proposed by the European Commission to unblock the EUR 90 billion loan for Ukraine.

Naftogaz has definitively won its lawsuit against russia’s “gazprom” for over $1.4 billion – the Swiss Federal Supreme Court has fully dismissed the russian company’s appeal.

Ukraine and Romania are building two new power lines.

The United Kingdom will not ease sanctions on russian oil. This was stated by UK Minister of State for Energy Michael Shanks. “We absolutely cannot allow putin to sit in the kremlin and view this as an opportunity to invest in the military machine,” he said.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz has called any steps to ease sanctions against russia wrong.

Eight member states have called on EU leaders to impose a ban on entry into the Schengen Area for individuals who fought in the russian army. This was announced by President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda. He reported that the leaders of all three Baltic states, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Romania have appealed to President of the European Council António Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, explaining their concerns regarding the threat that former russian soldiers could pose if they enter Europe.

The Lithuanian Seimas has approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ proposal to extend sanctions against russia and belarus until the end of 2027. The government may also freeze funds and economic resources and impose sectoral restrictive measures if sanctions imposed at the EU level against the rf or the rb are partially or fully lifted.

“European countries that do not directly border the rf and its satellite, belarus, do not fully realize the level of threats posed by such a neighborhood,” said President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel.

Georgia has committed to not accepting oil tankers linked to russia in its ports. This was reported by European Commission Spokesperson Siobhan McGarry.

As part of budget cuts, russia will have to reduce spending by up to 2 trillion rubles, or 0.8% of GDP. This is comparable to annual spending on healthcare (1.88 trillion) or education (1.74 trillion).

The rf’s gold and foreign exchange reserves fell by $8.9 billion over the past week.

Fixed capital investment in russia declined in 2025 for the first time in five years. The volume decreased by 2.3% in real terms. For the first time since 2020, the indicator showed negative growth for most of the year. The decline in capital investment will continue in 2026.

The financial performance of russian companies deteriorated sharply amid slowing growth and economic challenges. By the end of 2025, the aggregate losses of organizations had risen by 7.5% year-on-year, having reached 8.9 trillion rubles. Specifically, 17,200 companies, or 27.1% of the total, reported losses.

Private investors were the hardest hit by bond defaults, the number of which rose sharply. They held 45% of the outstanding securities of companies that defaulted for the first time in 2025. Over the course of the year, 163,000 people traded distressed securities on the exchange. Investments in bonds of defaulting companies amounted to 22 billion rubles.

Sales of new-build homes in russia have fallen 1.5 times, following the tightening of family mortgage terms.

“sovcomflot”’s net loss for 2025 totaled $648.4 million, compared to a net profit of $424 million in 2024. The main reason for the deterioration in financial condition was sanctions, as a result of which dozens of the company’s tankers were blacklisted. Over the year, “sovcomflot” recorded $550 million in “decommissioning and reduced assessments” of vessels.

In 2025, the “baltic shipyard” (part of the united shipbuilding corporation), which specializes in the construction of new-generation nuclear icebreakers, reported a net loss of 564.5 million rubles. According to the report, the shipyard’s gross profit fell by 46.4% – from 7.62 billion to 4.08 billion rubles. As of January 1, 2026, accumulated losses from previous years had reached nearly 33 billion rubles.

russian employees of the “eco-culture” agricultural holding had their salaries cut, and this made more than 200 workers quit. They were replaced by female workers from north korea. The russians have been banned from communicating with their new colleagues, taking photos of them with their phones, laughing, or speaking loudly in their presence.

The russian union of the tourism industry has proposed introducing a tax on travel abroad.

In total, internet outages in russia in 2025 amounted to 37,166 hours and affected virtually the entire population of the country – 146 million people. In the ranking of countries by the scale of internet outages, russia took first place, more than tripling the time of its closest competitors – Pakistan (11,482 hours), Myanmar (9,888 hours), and Equatorial Guinea (8,760 hours).

In russia, approximately 45% of general and secondary vocational education institutions have reported that their internet connection speeds are insufficient for normal operations and meeting all educational needs. Among other shortcomings is the inefficiency of the content filtering system: in a number of cases, it blocks not only undesirable sites but also those necessary for the educational process – programming language libraries, updates for interactive classroom panels, video hosting sites, and others.

78.6% of the servers used by the rf’s federal courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration ones, and 68.8% of the servers used by the constitutional court of the rf, have been in operation for more than 10 years. At this, there is a shortage of memory both in the servers themselves and in the data storage systems of federal courts, given the current trend toward increasing database sizes and the volume of information processed electronically. It is also noted that 94.7% of printers in the constitutional court, 57% in the supreme court, and 52.3% in federal courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration ones have been in use for over 10 years. According to the auditors, the outdated equipment may negatively impact the ability to further implement modern information technologies in the judicial process, the internal operations of courts, and the development of interagency cooperation.

The wear and tear of housing and utilities systems in russia’s regions has reached 50%.

russian authorities have stated that the structural integrity of khrushchev-era apartment buildings has been exhausted. Nearly every 15th residential building in russia is more than 66% worn out. Major repairs in such buildings are officially considered economically unfeasible. The volume of housing requiring immediate decommissioning will rise to 54 million square meters, and by 2040, this figure will reach staggering 216 million square meters.

A draft law has been submitted to the state duma of the rf which would prohibit the issuance of distribution certificates for films produced by foreign film companies that create “offensive stereotypical images” of russians or contain “distorted and discrediting depictions” of russia, the ussr, and the russian armed forces. The film “Rambo” was cited as an example of unacceptable content, as it depicts the “cruel and inhumane” treatment of the civilian population by soviet military personnel.

Director of the federal penitentiary service of the rf arkadiy gostev has complained about a severe staff shortage. In 2025, the personnel shortage exceeded 30.5%. Given the authorized strength of 234,100 prison staff, the agency is still short by 71,400 employees. Last year, this figure stood at 23% or 54,000 prison staff. In 13 regional units, 34.5% to 51% of management positions are vacant. In 29 units, the shortage of junior management staff ranges from 40% to 50%, and in 16 units – it exceeds 50%. Over 40% of employees quit before reaching retirement age.

In russia, nearly 11,000 minors became victims in cases of sexual violence in 2023–2024. Over the past 14 years, their number has tripled.

russian authorities cannot provide subsidized medications to all russians with diabetes. Therefore, priority will be given to “able-bodied” patients, since in such cases funding for treatment is “economically justified”. A shortage of subsidized medications for people with diabetes is a common occurrence in russia. In the winter, they were unavailable in yekaterinburg and orenburg. In the autumn, they disappeared in volgograd, vladimir, and ulyanovsk regions. In the transbaikal territory, the problem with subsidized medications has become so acute that residents are forced to move to other regions.

Against the background of a record deficit in regional budgets, authorities in the rf’s regions began suspending mortgage subsidies for large families, amounting to 500,000 rubles. Residents in half of the regions where this type of assistance had been established lost their support.

Medical workers in tyva received a meager advance payment of 7,000 rubles ($90). According to government officials, their salaries were “used for other purposes”.

85% of companies in belarus are already facing staffing issues. To reduce employee turnover, the government is considering legalized slavery – binding employees to specific enterprises, protecting companies from “poaching” workers, and improving the system for assigning young professionals.

The annual consumer price index for food products in belarus (February 2026 to February 2025) stood at 108.7%. This is higher than the overall inflation rate, which was 105.6% for the year.

lukashenko has stated that he will continue the repression against opponents, “regardless of any laws.”